GDANSK- Austrian construction group Strabag said on Tuesday its main shareholder was cutting ties with Rasperia, a company controlled by Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska that holds a 27.8% stake in Strabag, and that it was exiting Russia.
It joins a growing number of Western companies that have limited, put on hold or exited business activities in Russia in the wake of Western-led sanctions against Moscow following its invasion of Ukraine.
Strabag said in a statement that its main shareholder, the Haselsteiner Family Private Foundation, had ended a syndicate agreement with Rasperia, UNIQA and Raiffeisen after efforts to acquire the stake that the Russian company holds in Strabag failed. The four groups shared ownership of Strabag through the agreement set up in 2007.
Strabag's activities in Russia accounted for 0.3% of the group's output volume, it said, adding that it would not pay a dividend to Rasperia.
"We are prepared to take all legally possible measures to avert any harm to the company. In view of the sanctions currently imposed by the UK and Canada, this refers in particular to the payment of dividends," it said.
Deripaska was sanctioned by Britain last week.
UNIQA said in a separate statement that the syndicate agreement will be dissolved from Sept. 31 and will affect the equity method accounting from the 2023 financial year if "the significant influence" can no longer be demonstrated.
(Reporting by Alexander Kloss and Ana Cantero; Editing by Miranda Murray and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
